Having masterminded the daring escape of the infant 15th Dalai Lama over the Himalayan passes, Max Devlin has barely recovered from his injuries when he finds himself caught up in a Sino-Indian tussle over the Tibetan leader’s treasure.
Out of expediency, Devlin’s Sherpas deposit the trove with the Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, the spiritual home of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. Supporters of the two competing reincarnations of the tulku Gyalwa Karmapa — each secretly backed by China and India — lay conflicting claims to the multi-million-dollar treasure.
The devious Indian intelligence chief manoeuvres Devlin into agreeing to retrieve the treasure for the Tibetan government-in-exile but a ruthlessly ambitious Chinese commissioner is equally bent on securing it.
Devlin has to deploy all his Himalayan contacts to secure the treasure whilst foiling the Chinese agents dispatched to kill him and eluding the Indian police seeking his arrest. His perilous flight from Sikkim brings China and India to the brink of armed conflict — and himself to Hong Kong where he is swiftly arrested and prosecuted for money laundering.
Is the Judiciary of the former British colony immune from the intrigues of its Chinese sovereign? How far would Beijing go to get the laowai? Who is bankrolling Devlin’s A-list defence? In the clandestine proxy war waged between the two Asian giants Devlin is the most expendable piece on the political chessboard. How will his chakra cope with these malign forces?